Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: Avoidance of predators or impending collisions is important for survival. Approaching objects can be mimicked by expanding flow-fields. Tethered flying fruit flies, when confronted with an expansion flow-field, reliably turn away from the pole of expansion when presented laterally, or perform a landing response when presented frontally. Here, we show that the response to an expansion flow-field is independent of the overall luminance change and edge acceleration. As we demonstrate by blocking local motion-sensing neurons T4 and T5, the response depends crucially on the neural computation of appropriately aligned local motion vectors, using the same hardware that also controls the optomotor response to rotational flow-fields.
Source: Biology Open
DOI: 10.1242/bio.012690
Authors: Tabea Schilling, Alexander Borst
Institution: Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,995
Funder: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
OpenAlex ID: W2136945446